The District95 Education Foundation will host the second annual District95 film festival on Tuesday at 7pm in the high school’s Performing Arts Center. Admission is free.

Students from any district school, are allowed one submission of a film no longer than five minutes. Teachers can also submit one from a class project.  This year, nine films have been selected to be shown, according to Angela Fortune, fine arts and business department chair and the high school coordinator for the film festival.

“There is a committee that previews the films before they go to the judges, and we talk and discuss [the film] based on the criteria. [The film festival] is well represented across the district. We have elementary entries, middle school entries, and high school entries,” Fortune said.

Films must fulfill one of the assigned genres:  comedy, drama, public service announcement, animation, or documentary. The films are then judged on seven criteria: quality, storytelling/effective communication, artistic merit, acting, emotional impact, and music. The judging criteria is the same for all school levels, and the District95 Education Foundation chooses the judges. All judges are outside judges, meaning none of the judges are district employees, according to Fortune.

Prizes, a $50 gift card for first place, a $30 gift card for second place, and a $15 dollar gift card for third place, will be awarded to each school level. There will also be an overall Best in Show award. To start off the film festival, there will be a short performance by the high school choir Blue Notes.